Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Two $25 Amazon.com gift cards will be given away in the wee bewitching hours

What are you going as? A meat slicer, a botox injection, Quilted Northern TP? Whatever it is, make it snarky and on topic! If you don't have time to put together a costume, bring a dish to pass instead (or do both!).

The Rules:

1. Post as anonymous, but you must sign your regular screen name at the bottom of your post if you want to be eligible for the gift card.
2. Costumes should be relevant to the blog or the Gosselin saga, but as always, leave the kids out of it and follow the normal blog rules. The staff has discretion to delete any posts necessary.3. Contest ends at 12 p.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 1. At that time we will randomly select two winners who signed their name and wore a costume.
4. Winners must contact us at admin@realitytvkids.com to claim their prize. As the gift card will be sent electronically, you need only provide an e-mail address. Real names and addresses are not necessary. Winners may select a Kindle Amazon gift card or a regular Amazon gift card, winner's choice.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Thank you, Rep. Murt, for the more than two years you devoted to this important cause.

A child on reality T.V. is working, not playing.

"Remember, the kids are just playing in front of the cameras, so." Kate Gosselin, Larry King Live, August 25, 2009.

A child on reality T.V. deserves to be paid fairly for their work.

The original TLC contracts provided for payment only to Kate and Jon, not to the children. After more than three years of filming, TLC finally established a trust fund for the children, in November 2009. The Gosselin children first appeared on screen in May 2006.A child on reality T.V. deserves to have his or her money protected from their parents and others who may seek, either intentionally or unintentionally, to misappropriate it.

A child on reality T.V. deserves to have his or her health, safety, comfort, happiness and education put before obligations to their T.V. show.

Those are just some of the reforms that Rep. Tom Murt has been working for more than two years to get Pennsylvania to understand that they need. Yesterday, Governor Tom Corbett signed House Bill 1548, which affords reality T.V. kids and regular child actors the same protections. Among the reforms, it requires trust funds be set up, a parent or guardian must be allowed within sight and sound of the children at all times (the Gosselins were filmed more than once without Kate or Jon on set), and, perhaps most importantly, requires a studio teacher on set (a licensed teacher), even on reality T.V. shows, to facilitate plenty of time for mandated schoolwork and rest. Finally, an independent set of eyes on our children who are working.A brief explanation of the hours a kid can work, which were modeled after California's strict laws and have been a little misunderstood in the press: Babies under 6 months can be on set a maximum of 2 hours. Ages 6 months to 2 years old can be on set for four hours, but can only work on camera for two. Ages 2 to 6 can be on set 6 but work just three hours. Kids ages 6 to 9 can work 4 hours a day but are allowed to be on set for 8. Kids age 9 to 16 can be on set for 9 hours, but can only work 5. The rest of the time must be devoted to rest and schoolwork. There is a mandatory rest period of at least 12 hours between consecutive shooting days. So if the family stays up late to film a segment about fireworks until 11 p.m., the children are not permitted to start work again the next day until 11 a.m.

Should the Gosselins ever film again, Kate will find herself facing some big changes on set. Thank you, Rep. Murt!

How did teachers, principals, police, investigators, prosecutors, Pennsylvania's Office of Children, Youth and Families (CYS), therapists and two grand juries let Jerry Sandusky continue to molest children for three years after Aaron first reported the abuse to them? Chris Cuomo tries to find out why, and hold people accountable.

"Why are you moving so fast now when you moved so slowly when Aaron needed your help?" Cuomo shouts to a school principal running away from him. Karen Probst, mandated by law to report any abuse, instructed Aaron to go home and think about it when he first disclosed the abuse to her. She is still principal.

Friday, October 19, 2012

“TLC wants us to continue to be 'normal'.... Wonder how we will explain the $2M house? :)”

11. The World According to Kate Part 1

Kate enlisted the help of state Senator Mike O’Pake to help her keep her free baby nurse. Kate also wrote letters asking for the services to continue or appealing insurance claim denials, calling the sextuplets, who were 11 months old at the time “disabled” because they could not care for themselves. Kate whines about how “impossible” it is to look after all the children and complains that all the generous local volunteers are too young to be reliable or too elderly to be of real help [Admin’s note: Stereotype much, Kate?]. Even though Kate was a millionaire by the time she moved to her current home, she was still disputing or arguing over charges, including an $1800 propane bill, which she apparently brow-beated them into lowering to $1100.
A Kenny Loggins rep heard Jon singing Footloose on
the show and invited the Gosselins to a meet and greet at a Lancaster concert that could possibly be
filmed. Kate replied not only accepting, but asking for a personal, private
concert on their lawn. [Robert Hoffman said it best: Who do you think you are,
Kate? Michelle Obama?]

In an e-mail to
Jon in 2006, Kate wrote: “I'm sorry... I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
frustrated with you! I beg and plead and beg some more for you to do things
around here that I CAN'T do... and you don't do them! It is so frustrating! Why
can't you see that in order to keep our house running smoothly, you have to
help with more than just the daily stuff? Everyone would win in the end! I'd be
happy so everyone else would be happy--including yourself! Don't take the lazy
approach! I am not going away so you can either do the stuff i ask or live
miserably! You choose!”

Kate passed on
filming dinner after a visit to the NICU because Steve couldn’t be there. She
also appeared to be very jealous of the Duggars and would make jokes about
them.

Not content to
just order off the room service menu, Kate had very specific demands for a
family stay at the Essex hotel in New York, including Kobe beef, and fruit from
Whole Foods.

Kate’s emails to Jen Stocks, shortly
before Jen left to work on the Duggars, grow increasingly snippy and demanding.
She points to production problems including “continuing oversights” and “lack
of organization” and demanded a meeting to talk about these issues. Kate
complains among other things that Jen did not provide her a shooting schedule
far enough in advance, to which Jen replied that in fact she had, the problem
was Kate hadn’t confirmed it, and that production always works around Kate’s schedule and bends over backwards to be
accommodating. Wrote Jen: “Below is the schedule for this week. As you know, I
tried many times Last week to get the plans for this week confirmed with you,
and I am still waiting on you to tell me if we can do interviews on Friday. I
emailed you this week's schedule, as it existed last week, on Thursday. And
that is when you decided that you wanted to make changes. I'm not sure when we
have ever done anything at a time that did not Suit you, you are the one who
always chooses the times, we work around your schedule, always.”

In another email
to Jen in which Kate tells her, look baby, it’s not you, Kate sort of
apologizes to her. Tellingly, Kate writes, “We appreciate having a say about
WHO comes to our house as part of the crew. We appreciate a crew without
opinions (we have discussed this before).” [Admin note: No opinions? You mean
no opinions on child abuse or child labor violations? And if Kate had no say in
who comes to her house, how can she say with any certainty that she has any
control over who is around her children, including, potentially, someone like
Bill Blankinship?]

A new producer
brought on board after Jen transferred, Jeff, wrote an email to Julie Carson
May essentially falling all over himself to help Jon and Kate make a great show
and be happy doing it and improve things from when Jen was at the helm. He asks
to set up a dinner meeting to discuss all of their concerns from before and fix
them. Apparently neither Jen nor her replacement Jeff were good enough for
Kate, as Kate replies skeptically to Julie that she doesn’t trust Jeff and
doesn’t want to do dinner until a trial month is over.

Kate writes this in response to an
article in a local Philly publication: “TLC wants us to continue to be
'normal'.... Wonder how we will explain
the $2M house? :)”

When asked via
e-mail to speak at a Triplet Convention conference in Philadelphia, Kate writes to Jon: “Blah blah
blah... No thanks.”

A
friend of a mother and fan of the show newly pregnant with sextuplets, reached
out for support from Kate. Kate replied to Jon, “You realize.... She's only 8
wks along.......” [Admin’s note: Sadly, Kate’s fan Courtney Tipping indeed lost
all six of her babies, apparently never having received any encouragement from
her idol Kate. Wonder if she’s still a fan?]

Nanna Janet

When
the “tempermental (sic) ironess” Nanna Janet quit, Kate demanded production
find her another one.

Due
to some of the stories in the tabloids, a company backed out of a $100,000
deal, which naturally ticked Kate off.

At
one point, forty hours of babysitting was approved by TLC for each episode. There were some disputes
over their nanny Judy’s rates when she stayed overnight. Robert Hoffman regards
Judy as the children’s best nanny, although at some point she was let go.

Kate
found it “annoying” that a fan who gave them free toys featured on an episode
of the show, also named their child Aaden. And by the way, it appears the only
way the fan knew they received the toys was they saw them show up in an
episode. Says the fan: “My wife and I were
watching the show the other day and happened to see these toys that we gave you
in the background. We were thrilled to
see that the kids received them and seemed to enjoy them.“ What, no thank you note, Kate? I guess
featuring them on the show is thank you enough these days?

12. The World According to Kate Part 2

Much
of Kate’s journals show her daily emotions of selfishness, jealousy and greed.
When Jen Stocks gave her a $750 gift card, she felt anger because she wanted
more.

On
the five year anniversary of 9-11, Kate wrote this: Monday, September 11, 2006 Today is the five
year remembrance of the Sept 11 bombings
or whatever.”

Kate
grew easily frustrated with various people, often with little to no good
explanation why, at least none that she wrote down. They include a sound
person, a kind neighbor who offered to help watch the twins, the pediatrician
(who is obnoxious and lacks intelligence), and Mady’s kindergarten teacher. She
seemed to sometimes feel that people who wanted to help just wanted the
limelight. She once said her local favorite restaurant gave her the ‘Wyomissing” attitude, and so she left.

In
April
2007, she wrote this of Joel: “Poor little Joel- he is in love with his daddy
and wants to be loved by me. I do
love him… but I hate to say that his
father like cluelessness makes me crazy!”

Kate also seemed to feel that people who did not follow her orders,
did not love her. Kate was very upset when Jon lied about buying lunch for
himself in Philadelphia, calling it the most “horrible day in history.” She
writes, “Why am I so unloved that he has to continually lie to me?”

13. Child Abuse

Kate Gosselin
has stated publically that she was “very, very, over disciplined.”
Family members and other sources (according to Robert, three separate sources)
have disclosed that Kate was both physically and sexually abused as a child.

In 2009, an unnamed former staffer gave an interview to
The National Enquirer that appears to be the first mention of the physical
abuse going on in the home. The interview got a little press, then seemed to
quietly fade away.“She dragged one of the boys into the bathroom and
spanked him five or six times with a large plastic spoon,” the staffer said. “You could hear Kate forcefully whacking the child and the child screaming at
the top of his lungs. People told me it happened more than once, but it was
off-camera because Kate didn’t want it in the show.”

The journals Robert found corroborate this brave staffer’s
story. Kate details a number of incidents from when the children were toddlers.
Collin knocked over some high chairs, so Kate spanked him very hard, whipped
him into his crib, and actually thought she might seriously injure him. She spanked
Alexis and Joel for trashing their room, and pulled Collin by his hair for eating
M&Ms. Kate said she apologized to them, feels guilty, and sees her dad in
herself.

When Aaden had a potty training accident in the dining
room, she spanked him and felt he should have been able to control himself
better. Joel was spanked for climbing out of his crib during nap time, and
further punished by being left there beyond nap time.

Mady was spanked for being “grouchy,” which made her “happy
up.”

Kate spanks the kids for various other frustrations like
getting into tissues. She once called Jon so upset with them she told him she
thought she might hurt them. She had taken to sending them to their cribs when
they were naughty where they would be “safe” from her.

Kate threatened Jon that if he ever spoke a word about
her abusing the kids, that Discovery would sue him for every cent he’d ever
make, and she’d make sure he never saw or had any contact with his children
ever again.

The same day Kate tweeted about the family weeding
outside, Robert observed Kate yelling at the children to work harder and
faster, and the children crying, while she jogged the driveway.

Robert was present to drive Jon home on that day in
August 2010 in which video showed the children wailing for their Daddy as Jon
dropped them off at the house in the big blue bus. Jon had called Robert prior
explaining that the kids were upset and didn’t want to go home, and he was an
hour late trying to get them all into the van.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

"A series of recent events have made it clear to me that Kate Gosselin and her contributions do not align with the authenticity which we set out to build almost a decade ago, and that Ms. Gosselin is simply not a good fit."

Some nine-plus years ago, I started CouponCabin with the thought of creating a single website that had all the best coupons… no gimmicks, no fluff, just a site that was easy to use and that had great deals. Along the way, we’ve helped our users collectively save hundreds of millions of dollars.

A series of recent events have made it clear to me that Kate Gosselin and her contributions do not align with the authenticity which we set out to build almost a decade ago, and that Ms. Gosselin is simply not a good fit with the wonderful team and culture at CouponCabin.

It’s with this that I am writing to inform you of our decision to discontinue Ms. Gosselin’s feature blog on CouponCabin.com. Ms. Gosselin’s contributions garnered both positive attention and criticism, but as always, I respect and appreciate your candid opinions, which often encourage us not to lose sight of our mission — to help YOU save money.

Friday, October 5, 2012

We will do a “book club” style discussion of a few chapters at a time as we read the book together. You are free to read with the group or skip ahead. You are also free to discuss whatever you like, however if you want to partake in the book club discussion, this thread is here to discuss the designated chapters. Robert Hoffman’s book “Kate Gosselin: How She Fooled the World” was available on Amazon for Kindle, but has been suspended with an unknown date when it will be available again. The Kindle app is free for multiple platforms, including PCs.

8. Show Me the Money!!!!! Part 1

Kate has been marketing the sextuplets even before they were
born. She invited dozens of media to their first birthday party. She requested
a 15-passenger van and that people give Target gift cards in lieu of sending
gifts.

Kate was extremely paranoid that
other families with multiples could steal her thunder. Betty Hayes, a New Jersey mother of
sextuplets and two sets of twins, called Kate asking about their first special
and about being paid and receiving freebies. Kate writes that she is “mad” that
the Hayes are getting another special, and “I am merely trying to provide
for my family and rely on the Lord to do so! He is in control and I HATE this
competition pressure I am forced to deal with!

After the first Discovery special aired and did well, talks
commenced for a second special and a 20-episode contract. Discovery agreed to
pay the family $2,000 an episode, with many things comped including Disney
World and the grocery shopping trip to Giant. Kate was involved in a lot of
back and forth e-mails with producer Jen Stocks about episode ideas and money.
As time went on, Kate grew more demanding about what things Discovery would
comp. She also continued to take checks and cash from fans, friends and
relatives, sometimes checks for several hundred dollars or more.

In October 2006, Kate’s grandmother died. Kate wrote this
about the funeral: “Her service was
nice except that our mother tried to preach to us children through her tribute
to grandma… none of us appreciated that!!!”

In March 2007, Kate called Discovery’s treatment of them
“wining and dining” and refers to it as
a “magical time.” For
season two, Jon and Kate wanted $6,000 an episode. Discovery negotiated them
down to $5,000.

Kate
obsessively tried to line up other money making opportunities, for example
commercials. She accused Discovery of “sucking the life” out of deals after
there was concern a commercial she wanted to do for Fridgidaire might compete
with some of their other advertisers. Kate had visions of filming even when she
was “old and gray.” In one email she writes: “I also
want to secure a 'foreverness' for our family (house, college etc) that goes
beyond our show so that when I look back when I am old and gray (and probably
STILL filming- ha ha) I know without a doubt that we did the right thing.”

9. Show Me the Money!!!!! Part 2

The Gosselins made less money per episode than some sources
have reported. Season one they made $2,000 an episode. Season two and three
they made $5,000 an episode. Season four was $9,000 per episode, which was
later re-negotiated to $22,500. Season five stayed at $22,500 per episode.

Kate hired a new manager, Julie Carson May, in April 2008.
May was heavily involved in contract negotiations. She fought to try to limit
the family’s commitment to the show to an average of three days a week, that
each season include at least 35 episodes, and that the family would be
compensated for episodes even if they used old footage from previous seasons
(i.e. flashback episodes), for first class travel and “overages” of $600 a day
per family member and $75 per diem per day per family member. She proposed a
ghost writer to write TLC’s Jon and Kate blog because Kate didn’t have time. Tax
obligations were flagged as something to be discussed. She wanted the
family to have input and approval over merchandising.The list of freebies Kate was able to get Discovery
and others to pay for or at least offer to her is astounding. Landscaping, fences,
Gymboree, ski
clothes for Cara, a condo near Cancun, a beach house in North Carolina, an
offer for filming a breast augmentation in San Diego and subsequent recovery at
a resort called The Hideaway [Admin
note: My source says Kate ultimately chose Dr. Glassman to do her breasts,
without filming. In the book she indeed says she has a choice between Glassman
(but no filming) or San Diego
(filming), though doesn’t say which one she ended up choosing. One wonders if
some kind of executive decision was made to keep the boob job secret for image
reasons, even though they had an offer to film it.], at least $500 a week at Ann Taylor, make-up, Olay daily facials, Crest whitestrips, camping equipment,
furniture, Charmin toilet paper, invisible fence for the dogs, and a trip to
Niagara Falls. Kate responded to an
offer from a doctor to give just Jon
Lasik surgery that she wanted it for both
of them. Kate frequently follows up with those who gave her free
things, straight out asking for more and claiming how much she talks about how
great their products are.

Kate once shamelessly skipped out on a scheduled weekly
conference call with Discovery to go to the spa. There were also discussions
about a deal for Cara and Mady to “write” a series of children’s books. Perhaps
most disturbing of all, there was discussion about designing an iPhone game
around the children. Part of the game description includes: “The game starts with the player taking on the roll of Kate on Monday
morning. The player must get through 7
day/night cycles to win the games first level.
Each level will not only be separated by days, but each day will also be
separated in sections breakfast time, lunch and dinner time, with bedtime being
the goal the player trying to reach each day. The first week is an example of
basic daily life, from getting the oldest kids ready for school to getting the
rest of the kids ready for their meals, in this case breakfast. Each of the
kids run of different timers, where they will get antsy, crying or even have a
full tantrum depending on how long they are left alone or not given what they
need.”

Kate and Beth received a $100,000 advance for their book
Multiple Blessings. A deal with Kmart for their holiday campaign that only
required three-days of work paid $158,000 plus up to $5,000 for a security team
of Kate’s choosing. There was also a $25,000 Proctor and Gamble deal.

10. A Family Under (Discovery's) Control

Discovery maintained a frightening amount of control over
the family contractually, including where they would travel, what they wore and
even how they styled their hair. Discovery also had several provisions limiting
their liability and obligations to the family. They specifically prohibited the
Gosselins from subjecting their contracts to union rules such as SAG. [Admin
note: Huge red flag they were taking advantage of the family and actively trying
to circumvent any built in protections in the entertainment industry’s unions.]
The contract also included a provision that the Gosselins would “guarantee” the
children’s “performance” and “obligations.” Discovery released themselves of all
responsibility in the event of an accident or even death. They also had a provision
excluding them from any worker’s compensation claims. Any personal photos and video the family took in the course of the show was the property of Discovery. Discovery could terminate
the contract at any time for any reason without owing the Gosselins a cent. It was the Gosselin’s obligation to secure any
necessary work permits and travel documents. They also wrote in the right to
sue should any member of the family breach any of their obligations. In other
words, Discovery could bail on the family at any time without consequence, but
there would be hell to pay if any member of the family ever tried the same
thing (and as we all saw, there was).